By Rep. Jason Murphey
It’s difficult to listen to the local news without experiencing a barrage of doom and gloom regarding state government’s ongoing budget malaise. Lost in this avalanche of negativity was a recent report from the US Census Bureau.
Each year, the Bureau releases its annual estimate of state population growth. This most recent report shows the state of Oklahoma gaining over 30,000 new residents during the most recently measured year. That’s an amount larger than the population of 45 Oklahoma counties — in just the last year!
Since the 2010 census, Oklahoma has gained approximately 159,987 new residents. Had these new residents created a new town, their town would constitute Oklahoma’s third largest city: a town more than ½ the size of Tulsa.
In that time, Oklahoma has been the 21st fastest growing state in the nation. At this growth rate, Oklahoma will surpass 4 million in population by the 2020 census.
Upon seeing these estimates, I can’t help but recall the 2001 State of the State address by Oklahoma’s former Governor Frank Keating.
The Governor’s speech came soon after the 2000 census result showed Oklahoma to have once again lost a congressman due to the state’s lackluster growth.
Keating used the occasion of the census to call for the adoption of transformative reforms to Oklahoma regulatory and tax structure.
As he opened his speech, Keating counted down the historical loss of Oklahoma’s Congressional representation. The state had once boasted eight Congressmen, then seven, then six, and now five.
Year after year, the state lost representation by refusing to learn from the mistakes of the past and doubling down on a government-heavy regulatory scheme, too much taxation and an all-too-often corrupt governance structure. Oklahomans had continually turned to bigger government and increased taxes to solve problems, and it didn’t work!
Ever the optimist, Keating pointed to the benefits of tax and regulatory reforms. Should lawmakers accept his challenge, Keating declared that we could “get our Congressman back.”
In the years since his speech, many of Keating’s reforms have been implemented. Oklahoma has started the long and all-too-slow transition from the government-heavy, destructive policies of the past and moved to a lower tax and a less regulatory environment which has greatly incented the current growth.
That being said, lawmakers and the people of Oklahoma will most certainly experience the temptation to reverse some of these reforms this year. In response to the state budget malaise, the halls of the Capitol are replete with various fee and tax increase plans. Perhaps the most damaging of these plans is the petition effort to greatly increase the state’s sales tax and levy upon Oklahomans one of the most draconian and punitive sales tax rates in the nation. This tax increase attempt is expected to make its way onto the November ballot.
It is certainly my hope that Oklahoma lawmakers will have the vision to reject all tax increase attempts. As the census data shows, the reforms are working! We must not give into the mistakes of the past, but instead stay true to the effort to transition the state to a business and consumer friendly economy which will one day allow us to “get our Congressman back.”
